'73 Ford Gran Torino Late Model

[Brian Conn]

  This ones been talking to me for a while.....no , I haven't lost my faculties

 

  A little over 3 years ago I bought the Super Stocker kit minus the GTO body from Tom Birky.  Perfect for me since the chassis is a generic piece not meant to represent anything.  Way before that, I got the Torino body from Marty W.   not being a big fan of the '72's front grill/bumper fascia I figured I'd doing something with it some how.

  What I'm going to try and accomplish here is to update the body to a '73 and shorten the area ahead of the front wheel well opening 6 scale inches like I did with the '73 Gran Torino from the 2019 Oktober fest C.B.P   
  I am going for a local dirt Late Model look from the mid 70's when there were still some 70 and 73 Chevelles, Plymouth Road Runners ,Dodge Chargers and the like competing in the Late Model class before the smaller bodied cars , like the Camaro, took over.  I figure that the Super Stocker chassis will fit the bill perfectly since its suppose to be of that era.       

[Brian Conn]

The first issue has reared its ugly head....



The grill fascia is too wide.  The grill is a resin cast of the Revell Starsky & Hutch Gran Torino...the rest of the body is a Jo-Han piece.  The other '72 Torino's out there is the offerings from MPC and AMT/AMT/ERTL.  I've successfully grafted the Revell grill on the AMT/ERTL recent release of the '72 Torino stock car with out a whole lot of body work involved.  The original '72 Torino from Jo-Han is proportionally narrower than its '72 counterparts from MPC and AMT/AMT/ERTL

  What I will do is cut the grill fascia into 3rds and piece it back together so as to be the same width as the fenders.   I will end up doing the same procedure with the front bumper to narrow it as well.  The gaps between the front of the hood and grill area will be filled in with Styrene strips.

[TarheelRick]

Going to be another fun one to watch come together. Bring on the updates.

[David Bogard]

The more I look at this, you might have to add some styrene (or putty) to widen the raised contour section of the center of the hood. It might just be the camera angle but it'll be interesting to see. . .

[Brian Conn]

The more I look at this, you might have to add some styrene (or putty) to widen the raised contour section of the center of the hood. It might just be the camera angle but it'll be interesting to see. . .

What your seeing is the same thing I am seeing....
  I had to re sculpt the hood w/styrene strips on the '73 Gran Torino I built a couple years ago for the Oktoberfest C.B.P   I still have to shorten the hood 6 scale inches to match up with what has already been done with the front fenders.  I was able to successfully narrow the grill and fill in the gaps between the hood and grill/cowl last night. I have a few other areas that need taken care of ....passenger side "A" pillar got broke off and re attached , need to fill the Left rear quarter panel fuel filler hole and remove all of the body side trim....kind of weird with a stock car side fuel fill hole(fuel neck is behind the license plate on the factory production version)  and factory stock lower body trim.     

[Brian Conn]

....Got the body work done for now...will return to it later to radius the wheel well openings and cut a hole in the Right side door area for the exhaust.




Narrowed the Revell front cowl/grill and bumper to fit the Jo-Han body.  Reworked the  Revell upper cowl area to fit the Jo-Han hood better.  Took 6 scale inches out of the hood and re sculptured the contours of the raised center section of the Jo-Han hood to match the Revell Cowl.
  Repaired the Right side "A" pillar that had been broken off, filled the NASCAR style fuel filler hole on the Left quarter panle and removed all of the badging and body side molding's. 

[David Bogard]

Already a lot of work into this one!

[Brian Conn]

Already a lot of work into this one!

Thanks for noticing....I saved my build notes that I scribbled on the instructions from the Oktoberfest Gran Torino which helped save some time with this one.  I had/have to be careful when working with this 45+ year old plastic.

 
  Decided to change this from a front steer to a rear steer...more on that later.  The shaded area on the engine cross member will get removed and rework to make more room for the rear steer set up.


reworked engine cross member to match the existing cross member.   

[David Bogard]

Will the motor remain in the same place after narrowing that cross member so much or do you plan on moving it forward or backward a little? By the way, since you referenced it a couple of times I went back and looked at the final post for the Oktoberfest from a couple of years ago and your Torino did turn out very nice!

[Brian Conn]

 

Will the motor remain in the same place after narrowing that cross member so much or do you plan on moving it forward or backward a little? By the way, since you referenced it a couple of times I went back and looked at the final post for the Oktoberfest from a couple of years ago and your Torino did turn out very nice!

Rules back then (1975-77ish) allowed for the engine to be moved back 2" behind a line between the center points of the two upper ball joints to the center of the front spark plug so I'll do that utilizing a big block Ford truck oil pan ......sump to the rear like a Chevy.  Will be using the big block Ford with the kit 180's which should make for fun times getting everything aligned....the Super Stocker Pontiac G.T.O had a 400 which was a longer, narrower engine. 

[Brian Conn]

....I had mentioned something awhile back saying that every so often I take a good look at one of John Gorday's builds that he sent me a while back just to see how John Gorday does it   here is a case in point.


  John Gorday's Super Stocker on the Left and where I am at with mine on the Right.  I have decided to do some subtle changes to the Super Stocker chassis as presented.
  I want to do something different with the fuel cell which calls for the battery to be relocated.....not a whole lot of spare room to work with back there.  I cut out the area on the Left front area of the fuel cell area where the battery goes and re located it to the Left rear area of the floor pan between the frame and transmission tunnel.  I used Johns build to determine that the new location would work as planned.
  I also want to complete the "X" that's on the bottom side of the floor pan.  If you look at Johns build you will see where the "X" does not tie into the frame.....not Johns fault, rather who ever engineered the master.     

[Brian Conn]

Here's what I did with the fuel cell ....the flat floor piece that the cell would be joined to, as on the Left, is now the top of the fuel cell.  The fuel cell will now be attached to the bottom of the flat floor piece , upside down.  I did this to hopefully show some more detail of the fuel cell with it now being dropped down between the frame rails since the body pretty much obscures everything behind the rear fire wall.   

   
 

  Added a section to the floor pan for the battery to be attached to ,directly behind the rear fire wall,
  and moved the battery forward.  Added a hold down piece across the top of the battery and wired the battery cables.  Painted the battery to give the appearance that its contained in a metal box.   

[Brian Conn]

  Finished up the Ford big block....

  Stumbled across this thread from Model Car Magazine ref: the MPC Super Stocker Series

   http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/159433-125-mpc-super-stocker-series/ead from

  Looks like they used the same engine no matter the kit.... be it a Pontiac 400 in the G.T.O , a 427 Chevy in the Don Gregory Camaro or what ever it was supposed to be in the Dick Trickle Mustang.....imagine the same engine was used in the Plymouth Barracuda kit. 



  Was able to use some of the kit parts for this engine build....180' headers, water pump and crank pulleys and belt,fan blade,starter, bell housing and Muncie transmission.  More than likely this would have been the M-22 "Rock Crusher" transmission even though this transmission was bolted to the back of Chevy big blocks back in the day.  There was someone, forgot who, that made a bell housing that adapted the Muncie tranny to a big block Ford engine also seen this combo w/ a small block Ford as well.
  Aftermarket pieces include the air cleaner with a MOROSO cover and valve cover breathers.   Gofer Racing pre wired distributor.
  Resin cast oil pan,water pump, intake manifold , heads and Moroso big block Ford valve covers.  Scratch built engine block, crank dampener and dual line Holley fuel rail plumbed to the fuel pump. 

  Disappointed with how the Molotow chrome pen worked on the Moroso air cleaner cover and the tops of the valve cover breathers.  I allowed more than ample time for the chrome to dry...several days to be exact.  Since others have stated that even if it is dry , you still cant touch it or it will ruin the reflective shine , I decided to apply a very light coat of Tamiya clear to hopefully seal it.... now it looks like I applied a dull coat to it.  I'm going to go back to a Gloss Black base coat and Chrome from a rattle can when I do the resin front bumper.  I have had trouble in the past using the Gloss Black base coat and Chrome on the Moroso air cleaner cover since it builds up around the letters and makes them difficult to make out.

   
  Due to the position of the oil filter in relationship to the engine cross member , I decided to go with a remote filter set up...the two pieces coming out of the front side of the block.
I don't think that MPC, at the time back in '74, had envisioned that a big block Ford engine would occupy the engine bay.         

         

[Brian Conn]

...More changes.....



  Since the lower control arms are not representative of any particular manufacturers brand, I decided to make them into the Ford strut type of that era. Pictured is the kit lower control arm on the Left and the makings of a Ford strut type lower control arm on the Right.



  Added a cross member to mount the struts to.  Pictured on the Right is John Gordays Super Stocker chassis for a comparison.  I was planning on moving the radiator back since there is such a gap between it and the fan blade, even with the big block Ford, so the cross member does not present an issue where the radiator is concerned.
  The kit pieces that I assume MPC mastered for struts (Silver pieces on Johns build going from the front of the lower control arm, under the steering linkage and connecting to the frame just behind the radiator) look more like sway bar mounting arms...so I will be using them to make a sway bar for the front.     

[john2]

   You are funny, Brian.  My stuff is all pretty much box stock as I am a lover, not a fighter.  I mean an artist, not a mechanic.  ( " See how he did it. " )

But I am glad you could use it to see how to go.  I have looked back at my own stuff at times, at previous builds, to see how things went together then. 

Really, I don't know beans mechanically, but I do love racing.